Placement of application services in converged infrastructure information handling systems

ABSTRACT

A system and method access domain information indicating placement domains for an information handling system. The placement domains may include fault domains and optimization domains, wherein an optimization domain includes one or more resources wherein a tier instance for each tier of a multi-tier application service resource can be instantiated such that inter-tier communication is internal to the domain. Tier instances may be placed in accordance with the placement domains to achieve compliance with high availability and performance objectives. Management endpoints corresponding to each resource may be monitored and, responsive to detecting a change in the infrastructure, updated domain information indicative of updated placement domains may be accessed and used to determine whether the placement of the tier instances achieves compliance with the objectives. If the current placement fails to achieve the objectives, the plurality of tier instances may be re-placed in accordance with the updated placement domains.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates in general to the management ofinformation handling systems and, more particularly, the placement ofapplication services within the information handling systeminfrastructure.

BACKGROUND

As the value and use of information continues to increase, individualsand businesses seek additional ways to process and store information.One option available to users is information handling systems. Aninformation handling system generally processes, compiles, stores,and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or otherpurposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of theinformation. Because technology and information handling needs andrequirements vary between different users or applications, informationhandling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled,how the information is handled, how much information is processed,stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the informationmay be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in informationhandling systems allow for information handling systems to be general orconfigured for a specific user or specific use such as financialtransaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage,or global communications. In addition, information handling systems mayinclude a variety of hardware and software components that may beconfigured to process, store, and communicate information and mayinclude one or more computer systems, data storage systems, andnetworking systems.

The importance of information technology (IT), which refers to the useof information handling systems to acquire, access, analyze, generate,and transmit data, especially in the context of a business or otherenterprise, has increased dramatically with the proliferation ofbroadband communication infrastructure, affordable and sophisticatednetwork-aware mobile devices, computerized applications for business andconsumers, and oceans of data generated by such applications. Datacenters came into existence as enterprises heavily invested in ITquickly recognized the need to create specialized facilities andresources to house and manage information handling systems and relatedinfrastructure and components.

The architecture of early data centers was generally silo-like orvertical, with IT resources implemented in a non-shared landscape for aspecific and limited application or objective. Vertically oriented datacenters typically resulted in high capital costs, high operating costs,low utilization, poor interoperability, ad hoc management, andone-dimensional security. Horizontal data centers, characterized by theuse of at least some degree of virtualization and/or co-located datacenter facilities, evolved in response to scaling and cost issuesinherent in the vertical data center model. While reducing costs andimproving utilization, horizontal data centers inherited the fragmentednature of the original data centers, wherein processing resources areacquired separately from storage resources which are acquired separatelyfrom networking resources and so forth.

SUMMARY

A disclosed infrastructure services manager includes features formanaging information handling systems. Although applicable to all typesof information handling system, infrastructure services manager featuresmay be described in the context of converged infrastructure systems,hyper-converged infrastructure systems, hybrid cloud systems, and othertypes of enterprise-scale information handling systems, all of which maybe collectively or generically referred to herein as managedinfrastructure systems. Disclosed infrastructure services managerfeatures address various IT objectives including system consolidation,improved utilization of resources, and lower costs. Managedinfrastructure systems support these objectives by implementing pools ofcompute, storage, and networking resources that can be shared bymultiple applications and managed in a collective manner usingpolicy-driven processes.

Converged infrastructure systems include information handling systems inwhich two or more distinct information handling resources areinterconnected and validated by a vendor prior to deployment. Anon-limiting example of a converged infrastructure system might comprisea modular chassis that include one or more modular compute enclosures,one or more network attached storage devices, and one or more switchingresource. Hyper-converged systems include systems in which thevirtualization of compute resources and the virtualization of storageresources are integrated into a software defined environment.Hyper-converged systems may be implemented as a group of off-the-shelfrack servers, each of which includes processing resources and directattached storage resources.

Whether implemented in an enterprise's on premises data center or,increasingly, a third party data center for providing outsourced,co-located, and/or cloud-based IT resources to an enterprise, managedinfrastructure systems facilitate consolidation of IT resources andsimplify IT management while facilitating improvements in utilizationand cost reductions. However, the introduction of readily available,managed infrastructure systems has occurred comparatively recently.Accordingly, resources and techniques for managing the building,deployment, and operation of managed infrastructure systems are yet tobe fully implemented and optimized.

Subject matter disclosed in this and other applications address numerouschallenges associated with ensuring that: (a) managed infrastructuresystems are properly built before being deployed, (b) properly-builtmanaged infrastructure systems are properly deployed, and (c)properly-deployed managed infrastructure systems remain operational andcontinue to deliver an expected level of performance.

In accordance with subject matter disclosed herein, a system and/ormethod access domain information indicative of placement domains withinan infrastructure of an information handling system. The placementdomains include one or more fault domains, wherein each fault domainincludes a plurality of independently-available compute resources andone or more optimization domains, wherein each optimization domaincomprises one or more compute resources within which each of a pluralityof application tiers can be instantiated such that inter-tiercommunication is internal to the optimization domain. For each of aplurality of tiers of a multi-tier application program, a plurality oftier instances are placed within the information handling system inaccordance with the placement domains to achieve compliance with one ormore placement objectives.

Management endpoints corresponding to each of the information handlingresources may be monitored and, responsive to detecting a change in theinfrastructure or a change in a domain description document, updateddomain information indicative of updated placement domains may becalculated. It may then be determined whether the placement of the tierinstances achieves compliance with the one or more placement objectives.Responsive to determining that the placement fails to achieve compliancewith the one or more placement objectives, the plurality of tierinstances may be placed in accordance with the updated placementdomains.

In at least one embodiment, application service performance is aplacement objective, the placement domains include a first optimizationdomain, and wherein placing includes placing at least one instance of atleast one of two or more application tiers on a physical computeresource within a first optimization domain. Application servicedependency information indicative of strongly dependent tiers of theapplication service may be obtained. In such embodiments, placing mayinclude placing at least one instance of each strongly dependent tierwithin the optimization domain. The application service deployment mayinclude comprises a physical deployment or a virtual deployment. Whereinplacing includes placing at least one instance of each stronglydependent tier on a distinct physical compute resource of theoptimization domain.

In at least one embodiment, high availability is a second placementobjective and placing includes placing at least one instance of eachapplication tier on a first compute resource of a first fault domain andplacing at least one instance of each application tier on a computeresource of the first fault domain other than the first computeresource. Prioritizing compute resources may include comprising a faultdomain and an optimization domain for placing the one or more instancesof the application tiers.

Technical advantages of the present disclosure may be readily apparentto one skilled in the art from the figures, description and claimsincluded herein. The objects and advantages of the embodiments will berealized and achieved at least by the elements, features, andcombinations particularly pointed out in the claims.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are examples and explanatory and arenot restrictive of the claims set forth in this disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the present embodiments and advantagesthereof may be acquired by referring to the following description takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencenumbers indicate like features, and wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a discovery engine for a managedinfrastructure system;

FIG. 2A illustrates the determination and identification of faultdomains and optimization domains within a data center;

FIG. 2B illustrates a structure of an input configuration file;

FIG. 2C illustrates an exemplary domain discovery document;

FIG. 2D illustrates optimization and fault domains discovered on a setof rack servers;

FIG. 2E illustrates matrices of optimization domains fault domains forvarious placement deployments of a multi-tiered application service toachieve high availability and performance objectives;

FIG. 2F illustrates a flow diagram of a method for discoveringoptimization and fault domains in an infrastructure managed system;

FIG. 2G illustrate a dynamic change of domains following a failure of aninformation handling resource;

FIG. 3A illustrate a method for monitoring for infrastructure changesand re-determining optimization and fault domains when an infrastructurechange is detected; and

FIG. 3B illustrates a method for monitoring the placement of applicationservices and recalculating placements when fault domains andoptimization domains are updated;

FIG. 4A illustrates a block diagram of infrastructure-aware andapplication service-aware placement resources;

FIG. 4B illustrates a flow diagram of a method of placing applicationservices in an infrastructure aware and service aware manner; and

FIG. 4C illustrates the domain-based placement of tier instances of amulti-tier application service.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For the purposes of this disclosure, an information handling system mayinclude any instrumentality or aggregate of instrumentalities operableto compute, classify, process, transmit, receive, retrieve, originate,switch, store, display, manifest, detect, record, reproduce, handle, orutilize any form of information, intelligence, or data for business,scientific, control, entertainment, or other purposes. For example, aninformation handling system may be a personal computer, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a consumer electronic device, a network storagedevice, or any other suitable device and may vary in size, shape,performance, functionality, and price. The information handling systemmay include memory, one or more processing resources such as a centralprocessing unit (“CPU”) or hardware or software control logic.Additional components of the information handling system may include oneor more storage devices, one or more communications ports forcommunicating with external devices as well as various input/output(“I/O”) devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a video display. Theinformation handling system may also include one or more buses operableto transmit communication between the various hardware components.

For the purposes of this disclosure, computer-readable media may includeany instrumentality or aggregation of instrumentalities that may retaindata and/or instructions for a period of time. Computer-readable mediamay include, without limitation, storage media such as a direct accessstorage device (e.g., a hard disk drive or floppy disk), a sequentialaccess storage device (e.g., a tape disk drive), compact disk, CD-ROM,DVD, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electricallyerasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), and/or flash memory; aswell as communications media such as wires, optical fibers, microwaves,radio waves, and other electromagnetic and/or optical carriers; and/orany combination of the foregoing.

For the purposes of this disclosure, information handling resources maybroadly refer to any component system, device or apparatus of aninformation handling system, including without limitation processors,service processors, basic input/output systems (BIOSs), buses, memories,I/O devices and/or interfaces, storage resources, network interfaces,motherboards, and/or any other components and/or elements of aninformation handling system.

For the purposes of this disclosure, the terms “wireless transmissions”and “wireless communication” may be used to refer to all types ofelectromagnetic communications which do not require a wire, cable, orother types of conduits. Examples of wireless transmissions which may beused include, but are not limited to, short-range wireless communicationtechnologies (e.g., proximity card, Radio-Frequency Identification(RFID), Near Field Communication (NFC), Bluetooth, ISO 14443, ISO 15693,or other suitable standard), personal area networks (PAN) (e.g.,Bluetooth), local area networks (LAN), wide area networks (WAN),narrowband personal communications services (PCS), mobile telephonytechnologies, broadband PCS, circuit-switched cellular, cellular digitalpacket data (CDPD), radio frequencies, such as the 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1.9GHz and 2.4 GHz bands, infra-red and laser.

Turning now to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates a managed infrastructureenvironment in which a managed infrastructure system 100 is illustratedcoupled to an infrastructure services manager 120. The managedinfrastructure system 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes a plurality ofinformation handling resources 102-1, 102-2, and 102-3 included within arack, chassis, enclosure, or other type of structural support 110 thatinformation handling resources 102 may share in common.

In converged infrastructure system embodiments of managed infrastructuresystem 100, information handling resources 102-1, 102-2, and 102-3 mayeach correspond to different types of information handling resources,provide different functions, and originate from different manufacturers.These disparate and heterogeneous information handling resources may bepre-configured with a validated infrastructure by a supplier or vendor.In converged infrastructure system embodiments, managed infrastructuresystem 100 may be referred to herein as converged infrastructure system100.

In hyper-converged system embodiments of managed infrastructure system100, information handling resources 102-1, 102-2, and 102-3 mayrepresent different instances of a rack server or another off-the-shelfcompute component, each of which includes compute resources and directattached storage. These similar and homogenous information handlingresources may be pre-configured with a validated infrastructure by asupplier or vendor. In hyper-converged system embodiments, managedinfrastructure system 100 may be referred to herein as hyper-convergedsystem 100. In addition, converged infrastructure system embodiments andhyper-converged system embodiments of managed infrastructure system 100may be collectively or generically referred to herein as managedinfrastructure systems 100.

Although FIG. 1 illustrates a managed infrastructure system 100 withthree information handling resources 102, it will be readily appreciatedthat, whether implemented as a converged infrastructure system, ahyper-converged system, or another type of system, managedinfrastructure system 100 may include multiple instances of informationhandling resources 102-1, 102-2, and/or 102-3, as well as additionaltypes of information handling resources not depicted in FIG. 1.

Whether implemented as a converged infrastructure system, ahyper-converged system or another type of system, the infrastructure ofmanaged infrastructure system 100 may include, in addition to thephysical hardware components, any and all software and/or firmwarecomponents, including BIOS firmware, operating system software,hypervisor software, and/or containerization software, as well as anymanagement resources on any one or more of the information handlingresources 102.

FIG. 1 further illustrates a management resource 104 corresponding toeach information handling resource 102, as well as a management resource104-10 associated with structural support 110. Management resources 104,which may correspond to remote access controllers, baseboard managementcontrollers, or the like, are illustrated coupled to a remote andcentralized infrastructure services manager 120 via management network122, which may include and/or support one or more out-of-bandconnections between management resources 104 and infrastructure servicesmanager 120.

For embodiments of managed infrastructure system 100 that supportvirtualized, containerized, or other types of abstracted informationhandling resources, infrastructure services manager 120 may include orencompass resources for managing such abstracted resources. Theseresources may include, as examples, infrastructure manager resources,virtual machine resources, or microservice/container clustering and/ororchestration frameworks, depending upon the implementation.Infrastructure services manager 120 may include or support functionalityfound in any of various publically available management resources,including as non-limiting examples, Dell Active System Manager systemmanagement resources from Dell, Inc., a vCenter server and/orVMware/vSphere management resources from VMware, a subsidiary of DellTechnologies, Virtual Machine Manager (VMM)/System Center 2102 resourcesfrom Microsoft, Apache Mesos cluster management resources from theApache Software Foundation, Kubernetes containermanagement/orchestration resources from the Cloud Native ComputingFoundation, Docker Swarm container clustering resources from Docker,Inc., and vRealize cloud automation resources from VMware/DellTechnologies.

The infrastructure services manager 120 may be configured to interactwith one or more management services that may provide infrastructureservices manager 120 with information or services that improve theability of infrastructure services manager 120 to manage managedinfrastructure system 100. The infrastructure services manager 120 ofFIG. 1 is illustrated coupled to an intelligent placement service (IPS)201 that includes an IPS discovery engine 202 and a web interface 203for facilitating communication with external applications. As suggestedby its name, IPS 201 may be configured to discover, learn, or otherwisedetermine information that facilitates the placement of applicationand/or storage instances and/or workloads to achieve objectivesincluding high availability and high performance.

As depicted in FIG. 1, web interface 203 is coupled to an IPS plugin 121of infrastructure services manager 120. The IPS plugin 121 may receiveintelligent placement information from IPS discovery engine 202. In suchembodiments, IPS plugin 121 may be referred to as IPS consumer plugin121 or, more simply, IPS consumer 121.

FIG. 1 further illustrates a service deployment extension 124 configuredto enable infrastructure services manager 120 to locate and retrieve oneor more service description templates 125 that provide informationregarding corresponding application programs. For example, servicedescription template 125 may provide information indicative of thevarious tiers in a multi-tier application service and the manner inwhich the various tiers are related to and/or depend on one another.

Turning now to FIG. 2A, a managed infrastructure system 100 isillustrated coupled to a discovery engine 202, which may be implementedas an internal or plugin feature of infrastructure services manager 120.Discovery engine 202 may be configured to discover the infrastructure ofmanaged infrastructure system 100. In at least one embodiment, discoveryengine 202 may be particularly configured to discover and identify oneor more types of infrastructure domains, which may influence theplacement of workloads to achieve one or more deployment objectivesincluding high availability and high performance. Examples ofinfrastructure domains that discovery engine 202 may discover includedomains referred to herein as fault domains and optimized or performancedomains. In at least one embodiment, fault domains facilitate highlyavailable placement of resources, workloads, etc. by identifyingphysical devices that exhibit mutually independent operability suchthat, as one example, a power disruption of one device in a fault domaindoes not produce a power disruption of a second device of the faultdomain. The discovery engine 202 illustrated in FIG. 2A is configured toaccess a discovery input configuration file 204. Discovery inputconfiguration file 204 may describe various aspects of theinfrastructure of managed infrastructure system 100 including theinformation handling resources of managed infrastructure system 100 andits infrastructure. In at least one embodiment, a format of discoveryinput configuration file 204 may comply with JavaScript Object Notation(JSON) or another language-agnostic format.

An exemplary JSON-formatted discovery input configuration file 204 isillustrated in FIG. 2B. As illustrated in FIG. 2B, discovery inputconfiguration file 204 includes information handling resource typeidentifiers 206 identifying various types of information handlingresources such as server type identifiers 206-1, network typeidentifiers 206-2, chassis type identifiers 206-3, etc. For eachinformation handling resource identifier 206, discovery inputconfiguration file 204 further includes endpoint information 207,adapter information 208, and credential information 209. Endpointinformation 207 may identify one or more management resources by, forexample, identifying one or more network address locations for eachresource. Adapter information 208 may identify an adapter resourceconfigured to enable discovery engine 202 to communicate various restfulrequests 211 to various information handling resources of managedinfrastructure system 100 and receive responses 212 from the variousinformation handling resources of managed infrastructure system 100.

Accordingly, FIG. 2A illustrates discovery engine 202 engaging inRESTful communication with target devices in the infrastructure andgathering infrastructure data including, in at least one embodiment,fault domain (FD) information and optimization domain (OD) informationindicative of the fault domains and optimization domains inherent in theinfrastructure of managed infrastructure system 100.

Discovery engine 202 may be configured to retrieve adapter information208 corresponding to each type identifier 206 and to invoke theapplicable discovery adapter 205 to communicate with one or moreendpoints identified by endpoint information 207 of managedinfrastructure system 100 to gather management data from the applicableinformation handling resource.

A data extractor service 222 may receive raw output from each discoveryadapter 205. Data extractor service 222 may correlate or otherwiseanalyze the raw output to determine how information handling resources102 and managed infrastructure system 100 are connected. Aftercorrelating the resource adapter output and identifying the faultdomains and optimization domains, the data extractor service 222 maygenerate a domain description document 230, again compliant with aformat such as JSON, that conveys the fault domain/optimization domaindetails of the system.

An exemplary domain description document 230 is illustrated in FIG. 2C.The illustrated domain description document includes a fault domainportion 231 identifying fault domains 232 and an optimization domainportion 241 identifying optimization domains 242. The description offault domains 232 set forth in fault domain portion 231 identifies theservers 233 and switches 234 that comprise the corresponding faultdomain 232. The description of the optimization domains 242 set forth inoptimization domain portion 241 identifies chassis 243 and/or servers244 for each optimization domain. For each instance of any type ofinformation handling resource, the domain description document 230includes a unique identifier 235 for each instance of a particularresource, a model description 236, and one or more media access control(MAC) addresses 237. The data extractor may store the domain descriptiondocument 230 in a management database 240, which may comprise a NoSQLdatabase.

In at least one embodiment, discovery engine 202 includes, invokes, orotherwise executes a fault domain/optimization domain identificationalgorithm that facilitates the identification of fault domains andoptimization domains in managed infrastructure system 100. Optimizationdomain determinations may depend on the manner in which the multi-tieredapplication is deployed. Because containerized deployments can includemultiple virtual machines per physical server and each virtual machinemay execute a distinct tier of the multi-tier application, a singlephysical server can serve as an optimization domain for containerizeddeployments. On the other hand, because physical and virtualizeddeployments have a 1:1 correspondence between physical servers andapplication tiers, a single physical server cannot serve as anoptimization domain for physical and virtualized deployments.

According to at least one embodiment of an optimization domain/faultdomain determination algorithm, if a discovered endpoint is a rackserver, it becomes an optimization domain for containerized deploymentsand a fault domain-eligible element, i.e., an independently availableelement that may be combined with one or more other independentlyavailable element(s) to define a high availability fault domain.

If a discovered endpoint is a modular chassis, the modular chassis is afault domain-eligible element at the chassis level, i.e., the modularchassis and a second modular chassis may define a fault domain whereinthe operability of one chassis is mutually independent with theoperability of the other element. If the modular information handlingresources in the chassis are interconnected with one or more I/Oaggregators, the chassis is an optimization domain for physical,virtualized, and containerized deployments. On the other hand, if theinformation handling resources of a modular chassis are interconnectedwith pass-through connects, the chassis is an optimization domain onlywith respect to containerized deployments.

Each server blade or other server enclosure within an IO-aggregatedchassis is identified as a blade level fault domain-eligible element andan optimization domain element for containerized deployments. Forvirtualized and physical deployments, individual blade enclosures do notconstitute an optimization domain because any communication to or fromthe application tier instantiated on the physical blade wouldnecessarily traverse the blade enclosure boundary.

If a discovered endpoint is a modular chassis and the chassis containspass-through IO modules, then the chassis will be identified as a faultdomain-eligible element at the blade and chassis levels. Forcontainerized deployments, the pass-through blade and the chassis areboth optimization domains. For physical deployments, neither the chassisnor the individual blade servers constitute an optimization domain.

In addition, the rack servers, modular chassis, and the switches withina given rack constitute a separate rack-level optimization domain/faultdomain at least with respect to containerized deployments. For physicaland virtualized deployments, the rack level system may constitute anoptimization domain if the rack contains sufficient compute resources toaccommodate the number of application tiers.

FIG. 2D illustrates two racks, 250-1 and 250-n, from a group of “n”racks in a multi-rack data center 251. Both of the racks 250 areillustrated provisioned with various components including, asnon-limiting examples, one or more rack servers 252, one or more I/Oaggregated modular chassis 254, i.e., a modular chassis that includes anI/O aggregator (not depicted explicitly), including one or more modularservers 255, and one or more pass-through modular chassis 256, i.e., amodular chassis that includes a pass through module, including one ormore modular servers 257, as well as a “top of rack” network switch 258.FIG. 2D also illustrates domain spaces 260, each of which corresponds toan individual server or a group of multiple servers that share a commonrack, chassis, or other enclosure. The domain spaces 260 illustrated inFIG. 2D include server-level domain spaces, chassis-level domain spaces,and rack-level domain spaces. Each domain space 260 may represent anFD-eligible domain space, an optimization domain space, or both,depending upon the domain determination algorithm employed, theinfrastructure details, and the deployment environment, e.g., physical,virtual, or containerized.

FIG. 2E illustrates optimization-fault domain matrices 270-1, 270-2, and270-3 for pursuing domain aware placement of an exemplary multi-tierapplication service to achieve the best case placement consistent withperformance and high availability objectives. Each optimization-faultdomain matrix 270 illustrated in FIG. 2E corresponds to a differentdeployment environment. Specifically, optimization-fault domain matrix270-1 corresponds to a physical deployment, an example of which isdepicted as physical deployment 271-1, optimization-fault domain matrix270-2 corresponds to a virtual deployment 271-2, and optimization-faultdomain matrix 270-3 corresponds to a containerized deployment 271-3. Thedeployments 271 illustrate various placement of application tierinstances for an example application service that includes a Web frontend module, a processing module, and a database module. Otherapplication services may include more, fewer, or different tiers ormodules.

Each optimization-fault domain matrix 270 lists possible optimizationdomain configurations 272-1 through 272-n vertically with the top mostoptimization domain configuration 272-1 representing the highestperforming optimization domain. Thus, as an example, the single chassismulti-module (SCMM) optimization domain 272-1, corresponding to achassis with I/O aggregation switches, is identified as the highestperforming optimization domain for a physical deployment of theexemplary multi-tier application service. The ordering of optimizationdomains illustrated in FIG. 2E from top to bottom may includeimplementation-specific details that may vary from among differentimplementations. As an example, although FIG. 2E differentiates betweenthe performance of a virtualized, single server optimization domain anda virtualized SCMM/IOA optimization domain, as conveyed by thedistinction between optimization domain configurations 272-2 and 272-3in optimization-fault domain matrix 270-2, some embodiments may treatthese two configurations as substantially equivalent from a performanceperspective, effectively merging the distinction between optimizationdomain configuration 272-2 and optimization domain configuration 272-3.

Continuing with the description of the optimization-fault domainmatrices 270 illustrated in FIG. 2E, a list of possible fault domainconfigurations 274-1 through 274-n are set forth for each optimizationdomain configuration 272. Each fault domain configuration listedidentifies the granularity or separation of each instance of theapplicable application service. For example, the fault domainconfiguration 274-2 associated with optimization domain configuration272-2 (single server) for the container deployment optimization-faultdomain matrix 270-3, indicates that first and second instances of theexemplary application service are placed on different racks of a singledata center. This fault domain configuration represent an intermediatefault domain configuration, between the server fault domainconfiguration 274-1, i.e., first and second instances are placed ondifferent servers of a single rack, and the data center (DC) faultdomain configuration 274-3, i.e., first and second instances are placedin two different data centers.

An intelligent, domain-aware placement algorithm or process may accessone or more data structures containing the information conveyed by theoptimization-fault domain matrices 270 illustrated in FIG. 2E.

Specifically, an intelligent placement service may attempt to place twoor more instances of a multi-tier application service in a manner thatachieves best case fault domain configuration as well as a best caseoptimization domain configuration. For example, in a virtualizeddeployment environment, an intelligent placement process may attempt toplace a first instance of the application service in a single module(SM) optimization domain configuration 272-1 and a second instance ofthe application service in an SM optimization domain configuration 272-2within a different data center in accordance with the best case faultdomain configuration 274-4 illustrated in FIG. 2E for optimization-faultdomain matrix 270-2.

In the event that the applicable infrastructure does not support a dualbest-case implementation, i.e., an implementation that achieves a bestcase optimization domain configuration as well as a best case faultdomain configuration, the intelligent placement process may constrainone of the two parameters, performance or availability, and optimize theremaining parameter. As an example, an intelligent placement service mayplace a minimum constraint on performance and implement the bestachievable fault domain configuration that is consistent with theperformance constraint. Conversely, if availability is a paramountconsideration, the intelligent placement service may constrain orrequire a best case fault domain configuration and place the applicationservice instances in accordance with the best achievable optimizationdomain configuration.

Embodiments of an intelligent, optimization and fault domain-awareplacement service may support two or more modes of placement, includinga symmetric placement mode and an asymmetric placement mode. In asymmetric placement mode, the optimization domain configuration isconstrained such that each instance of the application service has thesame level of optimization domain configuration. If a first instance isplaced within infrastructure that supports a “level 1” optimizationdomain configuration, i.e., the applicable optimization domainconfiguration 272-1, but the second instance is placed withininfrastructure within which the best achievable optimization domainconfiguration is a level 2 configuration, the placement may force aplacement of the first instance that is sub-optimal with respect tooptimization domain configurations in order to achieve the desiredperformance symmetry between the two instances.

Conversely, an asymmetric placement approach may permit each instance ofan application service to be placed in the best achievable optimizationdomain configuration without regard to maintaining optimization domainsymmetry between or among different instances.

FIG. 2E is intentionally simplified for the sake of clarity. Forexample, FIG. 2E reflects an assumption that the only informationhandling resources available as infrastructure include rack mountservers, rack mount modular chassis, including one or more servermodules, provisioned with I/O aggregation switches, and rack mountmodular chassis, including one or more server modules, provisioned withpass-through I/O adapters. Those of skill in the field will recognizethat a data center may employ more, fewer, or different types ofinformation handling resources and that the intelligent placementservice may be modified accordingly, in accordance with the performanceand configuration characteristics of any such resource.

Similarly, although FIG. 2E illustrates a simplified view of theplacement options for a multi-tier application service for any givendeployment, the optimization-fault domain matrices 270 may besupplemented to reflect a greater number of achievable placements forany given deployment. For example, although optimization-fault domainmatrix 270-2 indicates that there are only five possible optimizationdomain configurations for a virtualized deployment of the exemplarymulti-tier application service, other embodiments may recognize more,fewer, and/or different optimization domain configurations for any oneor more of the deployments represented by optimization-fault domainmatrices 270-1, 270-2, and 270-3 In addition, although FIG. 2E reflectssimilarity between the virtualized optimization-fault domain matrix270-2 and the containerized optimization-fault domain matrix 270-3,other implementations may differentiate between the optimization domainand fault domain configurations available in a virtualized deploymentenvironment versus a containerized deployment.

FIG. 2E indicates that, regardless of the type of server resource,whether rack server, modular chassis, or blade resource, each serverresource represents an optimization domain and a fault domain-eligibleresource for containerized deployments of the application service. FIG.2E further illustrates that every server resource, whether rack server,modular chassis, or chassis blade, represents a fault domain-eligibleresource, but the only server resource that represents an optimizationdomain for physical or virtual deployments is an I/O-aggregated chassis.

The infrastructure discovery and awareness described above enables anoptimized initial placement of application services. In addition, oncethe initial placement is complete, disclosed embodiments may monitor forany changes in the infrastructure and, upon detecting any one or moreparticular infrastructure changes, trigger a fault domain/optimizationdomain re-calculation and a re-determination of placement for some orall application services managed by the management resource.

Accordingly, embodiments may monitor a managed infrastructure system forinfrastructure changes, including changes associated with a faultyendpoint and re-discover the infrastructure and re-execute optimizationdomain/fault domain identification in a proactive manner following adetected infrastructure change. A management database may be updated andIPS consumers notified.

FIG. 2F illustrates a flow diagram of a method 280 for discovering anddynamically maintaining optimization and fault domain information for aninfrastructure managed system. The method 280 illustrated in FIG. 2Fincludes accessing (block 281) resource description information. Theresource description information may identify a plurality of informationhandling resources included in the infrastructure managed system and amanagement endpoint corresponding to each of the information handlingresources. For each management endpoint, management information may beretrieved (block 282) for the corresponding information handlingresource. Based on the management information, an infrastructure of theinformation handling system may be determined (block 283). Placementdomains, including optimization domains and fault domains, may bediscovered (block 285) within the infrastructure and a domaindescription document (block 287) that includes structured dataidentifying the placement domains for each placement domain may begenerated. The management endpoints may be monitored (block 289) todetect any change in the infrastructure. Upon detecting aninfrastructure change (block 291), the method 280 illustrated in FIG. 2Fmay return to block 283 to re-determine the infrastructure and thecorresponding placement domains.

FIG. 2G illustrates the multi-rack data center of FIG. 2 before andafter an unintended infrastructure change corresponding to a failure ofa modular chassis in RACK 1. FIG. 2G illustrates that OD2 and FD2 havebeen re-defined following the modular chassis failure.

FIG. 3A illustrates a flow diagram of an example method 300 and FIG. 3Billustrates a flow diagram of an example method 320 encompassing theseoperations. The method 300 illustrated in FIG. 3A includes monitoring(block 302) management endpoints indicated in the management manifest,and determining (block 304) whether any manifest changes have occurredor any endpoints have stopped functioning. If manifest changes haveoccurred or end point functionality has changed, method 300 proceeds toblock 306, in which a discovery process is started to identifyoptimization domains and fault domains. Any or all optimization domainsand/or fault domains discovered may be recorded by updating (block 308)the management database, illustrated in FIG. 3A as management database310. After the management database update completes, the method 300illustrated in FIG. 3A may notify (block 312) IPS consumers.

FIG. 3B illustrates a flow diagram for an example method 320 for placingapplication services in accordance with fault and optimization domains.As illustrated in FIG. 3B, the placement of application services maybegin when notification is received (block 322) from an IPS discoveryengine. The infrastructure services manager may then determine (block324) the current placement of application services and determine (block326) whether the placement is optimized. If the placement is notoptimized, the method 320 illustrated in FIG. 3B recalculates (block328) the placement of application services when new faultdomain/optimization domain data is received.

FIG. 4A illustrates a configuration for placing application services inconjunction with infrastructure awareness provided via intelligentplacement service 201 and application service awareness provided viaservice template definition 125. As depicted in FIG. 4A, infrastructureservice manager 120 includes IPS consumer 121 and a service deploymentplugin 124. IPS consumer 121 is illustrated coupled, by way of Webinterface 203 of intelligent placement service 201 to a domaindescription document or infrastructure manifest in management database240. Service description template 125 is illustrated coupled to aservices deployment extension plugin 124 of infrastructure servicesmanager 120.

The infrastructure services manager 120 may interface with IPS consumer121 to retrieve a domain description document from management database240. In addition, infrastructure services manager 120 may access servicedescription template 125 via deployment extension 124. For example, inembodiments that include Dell Active System Manager features withininfrastructure service manager 120, service tier level dependencyinformation may be retrieved from multi-tier service definitions inservice description template 125. As another example applicable toembodiments that include vRealize/VMware features in infrastructureservice manager 120, application service definitions may be containedwithin application service blueprints. Since IPS consumer 121 hasknowledge of underlying infrastructure via management database 240, IPSconsumer 121 can infer dependencies from deployed instances. Thisinformation may then be used, along with optimization and fault domaininformation from a domain description document or other information inmanagement database 240, to place application service instances.

FIG. 4B is a flow diagram of a method 400 for placing instances of amulti-tier application service. The method 400 illustrated in FIG. 4Bincludes accessing (block 402) domain information indicative ofplacement domains within an infrastructure of an information handlingsystem. In this context, placement domains may include optimizationdomains, fault domains, or both, as well as other types of domainstructures that may be applicable to optimized placement. For each ofthe two or more tiers that a multi-tier application program may have,the method 400 illustrated in FIG. 4B may place (block 404) a pluralityof tier instances within the information handling system in accordancewith the placement domains to achieve compliance with one or moreplacement objectives including, as non-limiting examples, highavailability and high performance including low inter-tier communicationlatency.

FIG. 4C illustrates the placement of tier instances of an examplemulti-tier application service within a multi-rack data center whereinservice level dependencies are conveyed to an infrastructure servicesmanager, and considered along with the OD/FD information and otherinfrastructure information, to place one or more instances of each tierof the multi-tier application. As illustrated in FIG. 4C, the exampleapplication includes a user interface module 410, a processing module412, and a database module 414. To achieve high availability, FIG. 4Cillustrates an implementation in which two (or more) instances of eachtier of the application service are placed on the applicable group ofresources. Thus, FIG. 4C illustrates a first instance of user interfacemodule 410-1, a second instance of user interface module 410-2, and soforth.

Based on service information from service template 125 (FIG. 4A)identifying the application's different tiers and indicating the mannerin which the tiers communicate with one another, combined withinfrastructure information from a domain description document 230 (FIG.2A) or other information from management database 240, FIG. 4Cillustrates the service-aware and domain/infrastructure aware placement(block 420) of instances of a multi-tier application service. In theplacement illustrated in FIG. 4C, the first instance of each tier of theapplication service is placed on an optimization domain/fault domain430-1 on a first rack 440-1 of a data center while second instances ofeach tier of the application service are placed on an optimizationdomain/fault domain 430-2 on a second rack 440-2 of the data center.

IPS consumer 121 (FIG. 4A) may also use the infrastructure managerinterfaces to account for clustered infrastructures. This is significantat least because an infrastructure cluster may or may not span two ormore racks 440. If a clustered infrastructure spans two or more racks ina data center, the domain-based placement of application services mayleverage a multi-rack optimization within the clustered infrastructure.

This disclosure encompasses all changes, substitutions, variations,alterations, and modifications to the exemplary embodiments herein thata person having ordinary skill in the art would comprehend. Similarly,where appropriate, the appended claims encompass all changes,substitutions, variations, alterations, and modifications to theexemplary embodiments herein that a person having ordinary skill in theart would comprehend. Moreover, reference in the appended claims to anapparatus or system or a component of an apparatus or system beingadapted to, arranged to, capable of, configured to, enabled to, operableto, or operative to perform a particular function encompasses thatapparatus, system, or component, whether or not it or that particularfunction is activated, turned on, or unlocked, as long as thatapparatus, system, or component is so adapted, arranged, capable,configured, enabled, operable, or operative.

All examples and conditional language recited herein are intended forpedagogical objects to aid the reader in understanding the invention andthe concepts contributed by the inventor to furthering the art, and areconstrued as being without limitation to such specifically recitedexamples and conditions. Although embodiments of the present inventionshave been described in detail, it should be understood that variouschanges, substitutions, and alterations could be made hereto withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. An information handling system management methodcomprising: accessing domain information indicative of placement domainswithin an infrastructure of an information handling system, whereinplacement domains include at least one of: one or more fault domains,wherein each fault domain includes a plurality ofindependently-available compute resources; and one or more optimizationdomains, wherein each optimization domain comprises one or more computeresources within which each of a plurality of application tiers can beinstantiated such that inter-tier communication is internal to theoptimization domain; and for each of a plurality of tiers of amulti-tier application program, placing a plurality of tier instanceswithin the information handling system in accordance with the placementdomains to achieve compliance with one or more placement objectives. 2.The method of claim 1, further comprising: monitoring managementendpoints corresponding to each of the information handling resourcesand responsive to detecting a change in the infrastructure: accessingupdated domain information indicative of updated placement domains;determining whether the placement of the tier instances achievescompliance with the one or more placement objectives; responsive todetermining that the placement fails to achieve compliance with the oneor more placement objectives, placing the plurality of tier instances inaccordance with the updated placement domains.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein application service performance is a placement objective, theplacement domains include a first optimization domain, and whereinplacing includes: placing at least one instance of at least one of twoor more application tiers on a physical compute resource within a firstoptimization domain.
 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:obtaining application service dependency information indicative ofstrongly dependent tiers of the application service, wherein placingincludes placing at least one instance of each strongly dependent tierwithin the optimization domain.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein theapplication service deployment comprises a physical deployment or avirtual deployment and wherein placing includes placing at least oneinstance of each strongly dependent tier on a distinct physical computeresource of the optimization domain.
 6. The method of claim 4, whereinhigh availability is a second placement objective and wherein placingincludes: placing at least one instance of each application tier on afirst compute resource of a first fault domain; and placing at least oneinstance of each application tier on a compute resource of the firstfault domain other than the first compute resource.
 7. The method ofclaim 6, further comprising: prioritizing compute resources comprising afault domain and an optimization domain for placing the one or moreinstances of the application tiers.
 8. An information handling systemcomprising: a processor; an interface for communicating with managementendpoints of a plurality of management information handing resources;computer readable medium including processor executable programinstructions that, when executed, cause the processor to performoperations including: accessing domain information indicative ofplacement domains within an infrastructure of an information handlingsystem, wherein placement domains include at least one of: one or morefault domains, wherein each fault domain includes a plurality ofindependently-available compute resources; one or more optimizationdomains, wherein each optimization domain comprises one or more computeresources within which each of a plurality of application tiers can beinstantiated such that inter-tier communication is internal to theoptimization domain; and for each of a plurality of tiers of amulti-tier application program, placing a plurality of tier instanceswithin the information handling system in accordance with the placementdomains to achieve compliance with one or more placement objectives. 9.The information handling system of claim 8, wherein the operationsinclude: monitoring management endpoints corresponding to each of theinformation handling resources and responsive to detecting a change inthe infrastructure: accessing updated domain information indicative ofupdated placement domains; determining whether the placement of the tierinstances achieves compliance with the one or more placement objectives;responsive to determining that the placement fails to achieve compliancewith the one or more placement objectives, placing the plurality of tierinstances in accordance with the updated placement domains.
 10. Theinformation handling system of claim 8, wherein application serviceperformance is a placement objective, the placement domains include afirst optimization domain, and wherein placing includes: placing atleast one instance of each of two or more application tiers on a computeresource within a first optimization domain.
 11. The informationhandling system of claim 10, wherein the operations include: obtainingapplication service dependency information indicative of stronglydependent tiers of the application service, wherein placing includesplacing at least one instance of each strongly dependent tier within theoptimization domain.
 12. The information handling system of claim 11,wherein the application service deployment comprises a containerizeddeployment and wherein placing includes placing at least one instance ofeach strongly dependent tier on a common physical compute resource ofthe optimization domain.
 13. The information handling system of claim11, wherein high availability is a second placement objective andwherein placing includes: placing at least one instance of eachapplication tier on a first compute resource of a first fault domain;and placing at least one instance of each application tier on a computeresource of the first fault domain other than the first computeresource.
 14. The information handling system of claim 13, wherein theoperations include: prioritizing compute resources comprising a faultdomain and an optimization domain for placing the one or more instancesof the application tiers.
 15. A non-transitory computer readable mediumincluding processor-executable program instructions that, when executedby the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:accessing domain information indicative of placement domains within aninfrastructure of an information handling system, wherein placementdomains include at least one of: one or more fault domains, wherein eachfault domain includes a plurality of independently-available computeresources; one or more optimization domains, wherein each optimizationdomain comprises one or more compute resources within which each of aplurality of application tiers can be instantiated such that inter-tiercommunication is internal to the optimization domain; and for each of aplurality of tiers of a multi-tier application program, placing aplurality of tier instances within the information handling system inaccordance with the placement domains to achieve compliance with one ormore placement objectives.
 16. The computer readable medium of claim 15,wherein the operations include: monitoring management endpointscorresponding to each of the information handling resources andresponsive to detecting a change in the infrastructure: accessingupdated domain information indicative of updated placement domains;determining whether the placement of the tier instances achievescompliance with the one or more placement objectives; responsive todetermining that the placement fails to achieve compliance with the oneor more placement objectives, placing the plurality of tier instances inaccordance with the updated placement domains.
 17. The computer readablemedium of claim 15, wherein application service performance is aplacement objective, the placement domains include a first optimizationdomain, and wherein placing includes: placing at least one instance ofeach of two or more application tiers on a compute resource within afirst optimization domain.
 18. The computer readable medium of claim 17,wherein the operations include: obtaining application service dependencyinformation indicative of strongly dependent tiers of the applicationservice, wherein placing includes placing at least one instance of eachstrongly dependent tier within the optimization domain.
 19. The computerreadable medium of claim 18, wherein the application service is deployedphysical or virtual deployment and wherein placing includes placing atleast one instance of each strongly dependent tier on a distinct computeresource of the optimization domain.
 20. The computer readable medium ofclaim 17, wherein high availability is a second placement objective andwherein placing includes: placing at least one instance of eachapplication tier on a first compute resource of a first fault domain;and placing at least one instance of each application tier on a computeresource of the first fault domain other than the first computeresource.